


Eye for an Eye (Soul for a Soul)

by outdated



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: (Obviously), Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Canon Rewrite, Character Death, F/M, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Rewrite, Vormir, i had to go fix it, since some people dont know how to write a movie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2020-03-08 07:52:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18890347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/outdated/pseuds/outdated
Summary: “An Everlasting exchange. A soul, for a soul.”in which Natasha did not deserve to die





	Eye for an Eye (Soul for a Soul)

**Author's Note:**

> soooooooooooooooooo maybe the russo brothers are huge misogynists and killed natasha for literally the worst reasons for i had to fix it. maybe i've never been to film school but i'm confident i am right and would have made a much better movie. also i gave her emotions because she is a person and i know how to write women lmao
> 
> enjoy!!!

_“What you seek lies in front of you, as does what you fear.”_

_Clint and Natasha stood apart from each other. “The stone’s down there,” she said, looking over the edge of the cliff. Natasha stared at the stone floor at the bottom; it was cold and unforgiving._

_“For one of you,” Red Skull answered, not that Clint or Natasha knew that was his name. “For the other, in order to take the stone, you must lose that which you love.”_

_Clint had come to stand next to Natasha and look over the edge as well._

_“An Everlasting exchange. A soul, for a soul,” he finished._

 

 

 

“Jesus,” Clint scoffed, “Maybe he’s making this shit up.”

“No,” Natasha said calmly. She was good at acting calm. “I don't think so.”

“What, ‘cause he knows your daddy’s name?”

“I didn't.”

Clint looked back at her but she still didn't look at him. Red Skull floated still at a distance, but he listened.

“Thanos left here with the stone,” she continued and shook her head grimly, “without his daughter. That's not a coincidence.”

“Yeah,” Clint nodded.

“Whatever it takes,” she whispered, not intending for him to hear.

He looked out at the empty space past the edge, at Red Skull. “Whatever it takes.”

She looked up at him suddenly and stood next to him. “If we don't get that stone billions of people stay dead.”

He nodded. “Yeah,” he said, barely audible. “I guess we both know who it's gotta be.”

“I guess we do.”

He took her hands and she took his. He looked at her for a moment and sighed. “I'm starting to think we mean different people here, Natasha.”

“The last five years I’ve been trying to do one thing, to get to right here. That's all it's been about. Bringing everybody back.”

“No, don't you get all decent on me now.” He sounded annoyed, angry, but he wasn't. It was so easy to be angry now. He just wanted her to understand.

“Well do you think I wanna do it? I’m trying to save your life, you idiot.”

“Yeah well, I don't want you to, how’s that. I toss you? You know what I’ve done.” He pauses and looks at her with more emphasis. “You know what I’ve become.”

“Oh, I don't judge people on their worst mistakes.”

“Maybe you should.” It was a whisper, a quiet plead.

“You didn't.” She nodded and smiled a bit as if recalling a fond memory.

“You're a pain in my ass, you know that?”

She couldn't smile at that, and instead, she nodded as they pressed their foreheads together. Both of their hearts raced, but they hid it well from each other. This wasn't like a mission where there was always a possibility that they would come back alive. Injured, but alive. This was inevitable death for one of them. A territory unknown. There was no turning back, and that was the scary part.

She really didn't want him to die, and the realization sent a pang of anxiety through her chest. He was her first friend, her first partner, the first person she really trusted, and she almost couldn't bear to lose him. And so she accepted that she would be the one to jump, because she wanted to save the world and let all of her hard work, the work no one else would do anymore, pay off. But she also didn't want to be without him. Even though she really didn't want to die. Though she was willing to do so to clear her ledger, save billions of people, and trillions of life forms all over the universe.

He didn't want Natasha to die. He had missed her deeply all the years he didn't get to see her, and now that he had her back, he didn't want to lose her again. But she had managed perfectly fine for the years he was away, he knew she could do it again for the rest of her life. He knew she was strong and he was okay with dying. He wanted her to be able to go back to her family. He was okay with losing his life for those who died innocently. He needed to repent and pay for what he had done for the past five years and if this was how he did it then so be it. He was scared, but he was ready to face what he felt he had to do.

“Okay,” Clint said and he pulled away from her. “I win.” He grinned and in her moment of confusion he kicked her legs out from underneath her and held her down to the stone. “Tell my family I love them.”

She smacked him and shoved him off of her. “You tell them yourself,” she said and shot him with an electrified disk. She stopped to turn and look out at the view for just a second, then ran for the edge.

Clint struggled until he was able to rip the thing off of him and stand up. He swiftly pulled an arrow from his quill and shot it at the ground next to her. It blew up with a burst of flames and rock, and she fell, holding her stomach. Clint tossed his arrow to the side and looked at her. He tried to put everything he wanted to say to her in his expression, and then he ran to the edge.

He flung himself off, and for a moment he was alone to realize what he had done, and then Natasha tacked him midair and shot off a hook into the cliff.

She had become tangled in the wire in the fall and momentarily lost her grip on Clint when they slammed against the rocks. He slid down and now she held onto him only by his wrist as they dangled against the cliff. She clung onto him desperately as she was the only thing keeping him from plummeting to the ground. “No!” she cried, anger seeping into her voice now. She was strong, she could hold on.

He breathed deeply and didn't look down as he had when he jumped the first time. He looked at her instead. “Let me go.”

She shook her head. “I can't,” she said. “It's not fair.”

He chuckled. “It's okay,” he said. He wrapped his hand around her wrist and squeezed gently. “You know what I’ve done, Nat. Please, let me do this.” The guilt hit him, really hit him for the first time now. All the hundreds of people he slaughtered because he thought he was more righteous than them, because he lost and he thought they needed to lose too, because he was angry. All the ways he justified his action slipped away and he saw what he did for what it was. He was a killer and he wanted to fix it. “Please,” he gasped, “I have to do this.”

“No,” she whispered. “I've been trying to fix this for five years. Let me fix it myself. You go out and finish saving the world, that's how you fix it.” Deep, deep down in a place she put everything she didn't want to believe, she knew there was no way to get him back up to safety. She was the one stuck to the wall, she was the one with the wire hook, he was the one hanging by a thread.

“You can't,” he said. “Now you get to see the payoff. You get to see everyone come back because of everything you’ve done.” He smiled because he wanted to reassure her. “You know there's only one way I can repay for what I’ve done.”

“Take the wire, let me fall,” she said desperately. “Let me clear my ledger.”

“Natasha you already have,” he said. “You have been good for more than just five years.”

The tears welling up in her eyes fell down her cheeks and onto Clint’s face. “What about your family?”

“They’ll understand. They’ll forgive me,” he whispered. He allowed himself to think of them. He took a moment to mourn them and what could have been.

He let go of her wrist and pushed as hard as he could against the wall. Natasha lost her grip and Clint fell down to the cold stone at the bottom of the cliff, looking at her until he couldn't see her anymore.

Natasha let out a strangled sob as she watched him fall, unable to tear her eyes away. She could faintly see the blood pooling around his head and the odd angle his left arm was bent at now. She looked away when she couldn't take it anymore and another pained, guttural sound escaped her throat. She hung there for a moment unable to handle all her emotions and then she was blinded by a great white light. Then it was black.

She woke up in a vast puddle of water, dazed and confused. She sat up slowly and looked around, realizing Clint wasn't there and remembering what had happened. She took a deep breath to keep her feelings under control, just for now. She looked down at her fist as she pulled it from the water. In her palm laid the Soul Stone. She closed her eyes as she squeezed it in her hand. She let her tears fall and hoped that Clint knew how much she loved him. Though part of her knew that he did, and at the very least, the universe knew too.

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you liked!! be sure to leave kudos if you did and comment what you thought <3
> 
> find me on [tumblr](https://state-park.tumblr.com/)


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